Stuart Bartow

Size Matters

The world’s smallest tarantula lives in the Great Smokies at high altitudes beneath emerald green moss mats that cling to boulders. Endangered by the doings of a lone species, like most everything else still clinging to life, Spruce-fir Moss Spiders are roughly the size of bb pellets. If the one who spoke of mustard seeds were among us today, would he not say that our entrance to eternity depended upon this tiny creature? If there is a creator, it strikes me that that being cares as much about every life force, from tarantulas to whales to us.

she gasps
as the ladybeetle
flies off my finger

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About the Author

Stuart Bartow lives in the Taconics region of New York State, where he chairs the Battenkill Conservancy, an environmental organization working on the Vermont-New York border. His most recent book of haibun is Invisible Dictionary, published by Red Moon Press.